The RFP calls for two new buildings housing a hotel and condos, with either 170 hotel rooms and 180 condo units, 225 rooms and 150 units, or some mix thereof. If there was any notion Brooklyn is still somehow a backwater, the high-profile firms vying for these two sites should dispel that idea right about… now. According to a source present at an information session held yesterday by the city, among the developers and architects present were:

The final pairings might look nothing like this, but it presents some interesting options, especially because it would mean a new level of quality on the eastern shore of the East River—with the possible exception of the New Domino, designs for most of the glassy riverside towers in Queens and Brooklyn have been so-so. And there is another point of note: Pretty much all the developers on this list have built major luxury projects on said waterfront, whether at Queens West, Hunter’s Point South (Related is doing the first phase) or Williamsburg.

So no slouches here, and for good reason. According to our source, “The site is awesome.”

And there may be room for more parkland, too. The Journal reported yesterday that the city was in negotiations with ConEd to buy a transformer site in Vinegar Hill, which interrupts the waterfront promenade. The Bloomberg administration envisions a near-contiguous park stretching the length of the East River, replacing former factories with miles and miles of public space stretching from Astoria to Sunset Park.